A recurring question that we receive from a number of clients tends to centre around the ownership of life insurance, and whether or not it is best to hold policies personally or corporately. There are many considerations that need to be made when reviewing the type, amount and duration of life insurance; this is something…
I read an article in the newspaper the other day which offered the following advice: don’t tell your spouse, “I went through the credit card statements and can’t believe you spent so much on stuff we don’t need.” Is this good advice or bad advice? Personally, I think it’s a little bit of both, depending…
Convention and Business Trip Expenses A common concern among our clients is the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) rules pertaining to expenses related to convention and business related travel. Two things to keep in mind are the general rules CRA has for expenses. The questions they ask are: “Was the expense incurred for the purpose of…
If you’re one of the fortunate individuals that has a defined benefit pension plan, I predict that your employer may consider changing that to a defined contribution pension plan sometime in the next couple of years. Before I go on, let’s review the difference between these two types of pensions. A defined benefit pension is…
A few weeks ago I did a lecture and mentioned during my presentation that there has been a lot of talk about negative interest rates. In simple terms, think of this as paying a fee on the money you keep in your bank account. In addition to losing out on interest, you would have to…
Minimum RRIF (Registered Retirement Income Fund) withdrawals should be reduced to at least their pre-1992 amounts. Prior to 1992, the minimum RRIF payments were significantly less than they are today. At that time, the minimum withdrawal amounts were calculated using a pre-defined formula of 1/(90-Age). If you were a 72-year-old withdrawing funds from their RRIF,…
Changes to CPP & OAS Canada Pension Plan (CPP) Rules In January of 2012, the government changed the rules for both taking and contributing to CPP. What follows are a few highlights. Taking CPP Early The normal retirement age for CPP purposes is 65; however, the government allows Canadians to take their CPP up…
How much time do you waste worrying about things over which you have no control, while not spending enough time working on the things you can control? If you’re an average Canadian, you probably own a principal residence and have a few dollars invested or saved somewhere. If you have money invested in stocks, bonds…
Most people don’t spend enough time thinking about taxes. Unlike the average Canadian, I consider myself a tax nerd. It’s front and centre in my thoughts for most of my waking hours. Now you might find that boring and weird, but it’s people like me who are trying to help people like you. Here’s a…
Protecting Your Identity Recent vulnerabilities such as the Heartbleed bug, which shut down CRA’s website at the height of tax season, or the now-patched bug in Internet Explorer that allowed hackers to secretly take control of a computer, remind us of the need to protect personal information. We want to do everything possible to ensure…